Little heart, big love
by tamy-blue
Summary: AU from Season 4 of BTS./The Iniciative not only put a chip on Spike's brain, but they also achieved to make him a little five years old vamp-kid. Even when she didn't want to, Buffy will have to call Angel for help. How will the dark haired vampire react? Would he help his so long lost childe?
1. Chapter 1

_**DISCLAIMER** : "characters are not mine, they belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the W. B, UPN and FOX, blablabla. I'm only having a little fun with them. This story belongs to me, and which I have no commercial purpose"._

 _This is an AU fic. I only wanted to have a little, scared and oh, so cutte Spike, calling for his Sire. And his Sire answering - for once- his Childe's cries. I only have watched the last season of ATS, so this is absolutly out of canon about that show. However, I love the characters, so I've borrowed them for a little._

He kept running. His legs were burning. He was out of breath, but he still could hear them not too far, trying to catch him again. 'No, no, no', he almost whimpered inside his head. He couldn't go back again emthere/em. There had to be someone who may help him. A voice in his mind whispered _Sire_ , but he didn't understand it. He didn't have time to think about that, though. The soldiers were getting close. He must find a place to hide. And then...

A hand gripped his arm roughly, putting him to a halt. Within seconds, he was on the floor, a bunch of angry men surrounding him, calling him bad things, kicking him on his ribs. His cries of pain echoed in the night, and then he understood. He was truly alone in the world.

'Eh, leave him alone!' He could hear a voice, in the distance, making its way through the fog of pain. From the ground, all looked strange. He tilt his head, one pale cheeck against the asfalt and he could see that a blonde woman was fighting the soldiers. He tried to stand then and carry on running, but he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back, and he screamed out in panic.

'Hey, it's ok boy.' Someone helped him to his feet, and he lifted his eyes from the concrete, worrying his bottom lip. There was something about that new people that felt...familiar. Like he should know them, but didn't matter how much he tried, he couldn't make their names out. A smiling young woman, with beautiful long hair, knelt in front of him.

'Hi! I'm Dawn. What's your name?' He took a small step back of her. He didn't know who he could trust, not after what the soldiers had done to him... With wide eyes he looked at his back, having remembered his enemy just then. However, to his surprise, they weren't there. He looked warily around, but he couldn't see them, or smell them.

The blond woman did was there. She smiled at him, and something within him stirred. She smelled funny, powerful and hot. Then she got too close to him and a voice screamed in his blood _Danger, danger, run away!_ He tried to obey, but the sweet girl was holding him in place with her hands still on his shoulders.

'Hey, don´t be scared, she is the good one.' The girl tried to sooth him, sensing his turmoil. 'You see. She saved you of those bad guys. She's my sister and her name is Buffy. She is the...'

'Slayer', he growled before he was overwhelmed by his fear and vampet out startling the Scoobie Gang. Buffy stared at the little vampire-kid growling at her. There was only someone who could make that single word sounds like the worst insult.

'¿Spike?'


	2. Chapter 2

_**DISCLAIMER** : "characters are not mine, they belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the W. B, UPN and FOX, blablabla. I'm only having a little fun with them. This story belongs to me, and which I have no commercial purpose"._  
 _This is an AU fic. I only wanted to have a little, scared and oh, so cutte Spike, calling for his Sire. And his Sire answering - for once- his Childe's cries. I only have watched the last season of ATS, so this is absolutly out of canon about that show. However, I love the characters, so I've borrowed them for a little._

Giles polished his glasses for the thousandth time in less than an hour. Maybe if he kept doing it long enough, the answer that he was looking for would appear in front of his tired eyes, like the genie in the lamp.

'I'm telling you, he's lying' Buffy repeated frustrated.'He just recognized me, he called me Slayer. It's a trick, Giles'.

The Watcher put his glasses on again, and looked across his living room. There, sitting in a lovechair was who they thought was Spike. However, this vampire was... smaller. Indeed, he looks like a little five years old kid, only he had fangs and a bad temper. They had been able to discover it.

'I don't know, Buffy'. Giles refrained himself from the impulse to polish his glasses _again_.

'Buffy, he's not faking it!' Dawn tried to make his sister listen to her. She crouched down to Spike's level. She was the only one he had allowed near him, since they arrived at Gile's house. Well, her and Tara. 'He's scared and he's hurt. You saw what those soldiers were doing to him.' Dawn looked up to her sister for a second, then she ruffled Spike's blond curls. 'You just don't remember us, do you?'

Spike shook his head silently. It's wasn't totally true, but he wasn't lying to her either. He knew they weren't absolutely strangers to him, but he couldn't remember them. They all were like pictures in his head. Everything was mixed up. Names, dates, feelings, memories. It made his head hurt.

'But he knew I was the Slayer!'

'Well...he is...he's a vampire' That was Tara's shy voice, breaking Buffy's new outburst. Everybody looked at her and she blushed. 'I mean, maybe it's something...instinct?'

Giles mused about it and then nodded thoughtfully. The young girl could be right.

'Well, I have to agree with Tara.' He smiled at the sensitive witch. 'You're the Slayer, and he's still a vampire. It makes senses that he could feel your power, or smelled it... A vampire needs to be able to sense his biggest enemy.'

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, but looking at the blond little vamp she had to agree too. Spike was looking at them with wide blue eyes, sitting in silence. In fact, he hadn't said a word, since he acknowledged her as the Slayer.

pOk, that was new, and a bit scary. Spike was never silent, not even while he fought. Something was wrong with the vampire. He was looking scared, for some reason. He looked lost and afraid. Surrounded by all of them, with his dirty clothes and his tousled hair, he looked helpless.

She sighed and walked slowly to him. Spike observed her all the time, tense and wary, like he was ready to flee or attack.

'Spike?' She tried not to startle him. 'Are you ok? Are you hungry?'

Spike didn't respond at first. He didn't know if he was supposed to do it, or if everything was just another trick. Back... back _there_ , a mean woman with a white coat had made him that same question, and every time he had answered it, there had been pain.

However, this blond girl had been nice with him. Everybody had been, or at least, they hadn't been bad. And she had saved him from the soldiers. Maybe he could answer her this time.

He opened his mouth, but he didn't have the chance to make a word.

An urgent knock on the door made everyone jump. Giles rushed to look through the peephole and then opened the door.

'Riley, what are you doing...?' His question was interrupted by the boy, who came into the room calling for Buffy.

Standing up, the girl seemed as surprised as the rest of her friends. 'Riley, what's wrong?' He looked really upset, and she started to worry.

'That what's wrong!' Riley pointed at Spike with his finger. 'What are you doing here!'

'Hey, don't yell at him!' Dawn couldn't help it, she had to say something. At her side on the sofa, Spike made a little sound, like a scared whimper. She wrapped her arm around his shaking shoulders.

'Hush Spike, everything is fine' She said soothingly. Nevertheless, he shook his head again.

'Soldier' He whispered without taking his eyes off Riley.

'Soldier... Wait, you know him?' Giles was annoyed by Riley's behavior. Who did that kid think he was?

'NO! Of course no!' Riley didn't let Spike say anything else.

'But you were looking for him.' Xander didn't like the way Riley was looking at Spike. Like he wanted to kill him right there. Sure, the vampire was a demon, a murderer, but... it didn't seem right. Not when he was no more than a little kid trembling in Dawnie's embrace.

'I was looking for Buffy. I was gonna alert her that a dangerous demon had escaped from The Iniciative.'

An awkward silent fell over the room. Everybody was thinking exactly the same. Spike, dangerous? Well, he had still his fangs but the idea of him killing someone looked absurd.

'Wait a minute. What was doing Spike at the Iniciative?' Again, Giles's question made Riley stutter.

'Well...he was...we were...'

'Riley?' Buffy didn't look worried anymore. She knew he was hiding something, and a voice in her head was telling her that she wasn't going to like it.

'We were doing our job.' He said petulantly.' And I don't have time for this. I must take him back.'

At his words, Spike reacted. He jumped from his place on the sofa, yellow eyes and fangs ready. However, two seconds later, he was crying out in pain on the floor, clutching his head.

'Spike!' Dawn and Tara run by his side. The blond witch gathered him in her arms and standing up, she made her way to the sofa again.

'What's wrong with him?' Xander asked to Giles, who could only shrug. He had no idea.

'Serves him right' Riley murmured, but Buffy could hear him.

'What do you mean?' He tried to play fool, but no one in the house was buying it, so he gave up.

'Ok. He has a chip in his brain.' He explained. 'Our scientists did it, and now every time he tries to hurt someone, or if he even thinks about it...well...you just have seen what happens.'

Dawn gasped in horror. Spike was still crying, his tears soaking into Tara's blouse.

'What about his age?' Willow asked. She was standing behind the sofa, one hand squeezing her girlfriend's shoulder. When Riley nodded, she had to ask. 'But, why, and how?'

'Sorry Willow, but I can't tell you.' He looked back at Buffy and Giles. 'I _won't_ tell you'.

Giles was furious and shocked. He didn't want to think about Spike's torment by the Iniciative's scientists. He couldn't help imaging this little kid, terrified, being prodded and sliced...

'Come on, I don't have time for this. I really have to take him back'

'No! Buffy, he can't...' Dawn pleaded with her sister. 'Those soldiers were hurting him. And he didn't fight back...he couldn't! Please, Buffy...'

Buffy looked at her sister, at Tara who was still trying to calm down Spike, and then at Riley. Everybody was staring at her, waiting for her decision.

She closed her eyes, trying to think. Spike was a vampire, and they both had fought enough times to know each other's weakness and talents. She knew that if he could, he would kill her without a doubt.

A soft sob put her out of her thoughts. She looked down at Tara and the trembling bundle in her arms. And then, Buffy knew exactly what she had to do.


End file.
